Rosewood knob is shaped like a hot air balloon, and has a distinct
bead turned into its base.

The brass depth adjustment nut is solid (sometimes of a two-piece
construction), with "BAILEY, WOODS & CO." "BOSTON" "PATENTED"
"AUG. 31, 1858, AUG. 6, 1867" stamped into it. Only the lower
portion of the name "WOODS" is visible. The nut has a right-hand
thread.

"L. BAILEY'S" "PATENT" "DEC. 24, 1867" is stamped on the top of
the iron and cap iron.

The back of the lever cap is solid and has a banjo-shaped spring.

The frog has a rounded back (the top of it where it faces the
(tote)). It is held into place by screws with round heads.

The bottom casting's receiver for the frog is shaped like the
letter "I".

The size of the plane (stock #, e.g. #4, #6, etc.) is incised into
the underside of the frog and the lever cap. This isn't listed in
the book I reference, but every example of these early planes I've
examined has it.

A total redesign of the frog, where it became smaller and is held
to the bottom casting by a vertical rib between the sides of the
casting. This was a short-lived production, and is practically
identical to the "Victor" planes Bailey later produced. This new
design is found on sizes #3-#8, but the frog is of a #3 size for
all planes. This was probably an attempt to make interchangable
parts for most of the bench planes, instead of having a frog sized
for each size of plane. A lot of these planes are broken about the
vertical rib, so it was a weak design that was soon dropped.

"STANLEY RULE" (in an arc) "& LEVEL Co." is now stamped on the
iron. The cap iron still has the logo of Type 1 stamped into it.

The brass adjusting nut in now recessed, with the patent stuff
stamped inside.

The back of the lever cap is recessed.

Plane number no longer incised into back of lever cap or
underside of frog.

The lateral adjustment lever makes its debut. It has two patent
dates, "2-8-76" and "10-21-84", stamped into it, along with the
word "STANLEY". The lateral lever is a one-piece construction,
with its portion that engages the slot in the iron being straight
across.

Top of the frog no longer rounded as before. The top is more a
flattened arch-shape.

The number is now cast into the main casting; i.e. on the smaller
planes, at the toe, and on the heel, #5 and up.

The trademark stamped into the iron is the same as before, except
that "STANLEY" is in a straight line, in large letters, and the
rest of the logo immediately below, in small letters.

Lateral adjustment lever now is a two-piece construction, with a
circular disk replacing the straight portion at the point where it
engages the slot in the iron. "7-24-88" is also stamped into the
lever, with the rest of the dates, as before.

The brass adjusting nut now has a left-hand thread.

New iron design, where the circular hole is now located toward the
cutting edge, instead of the top. Stanley claimed:

"The improved form of this Plane Iron renders it unnecessary
to detach the Cap Iron, at any time, as the connecting screw
will slide back to the extreme end of the slot in the Plane
Iron, without the danger of falling out. The screw may then
be tightened, by a turn with thumb and finger; and the Cap
iron will serve as a convenient handle, or rest, in whetting
or sharpening the cutting edge of the Plane Iron."

There you have it, in all its gorey, why the circular hole was
repositioned, after it being at the top of the blade for some
100 years. At least that's how Stanley decribed the change. However,
the patent drawing for the change shows what I believe is
the real reason for the change - the circular disk, on the lower
end of the lateral adjustment lever, loses its ability to engage
the slot provided for it (in the cutter) when the iron is nearly
used up. By relocating the circular hole toward the bottom of the
cutter, the iron can be used right up to the slot, without sacrificing
the advantage gained from the lateral adjustment lever.

Bead eliminated from the front knob.

Frog receiver has two shallow grooves, parallel to the plane's
sides, cast into it. The screw holes are located in the grooves.

"STANLEY" "PAT. AP'L 19, 92" (in two lines) stamped on the iron.
The original type study doesn't mention this, but some of these
irons can be found with just "STANLEY" and not the patent date.

"BAILEY" now cast into to toe, as homage to the inventor of
Stanley's cash cow. The number designation is now cast just behind
the knob.

Frog receiver undergoes a major redesign. A smaller bearing surface
is now cast into the bed, toward the tote. Two circular bosses, to
receive the screws are located just ahead of this bearing surface,
toward the mouth. A rib runs from the mouth to bearing surface,
over which the frog rests. This is to align the frog laterally, to
keep it square to the sides of the plane, and, thus, make the iron
parallel to the mouth. The frog has a slot at its bottom (the
portion nearest the mouth) to fit over the rib cast in the bed.

The Patent dates "Mar.-25-02" "Aug.-19-02" are cast into the bed,
immediately behind the frog.

The original type study doesn't mention this - It's about this
time that the brass nuts used to secure the knob and tote to the
rods undergo a change. They now have a waist to them whereas the
earlier ones are cylindrical over their length.

A frog adjustment screw, first offered on the Bed Rock planes, is
now added. This is located below the frog, and engages a fork that
is screwed to the frog. A turn of this screw will move the frog
forward or backward, depending on the direction it is turned.

A bizzare logo is now stamped on the iron. It reads (in four
lines): "STANLEY" "RULE & LEVEL CO." "NEW BRITAIN CONN." "U.S.A.".

The knob undergoes a change in height, and is now much taller
than the previous style. This is referred to as a "high knob" in
toolie dialect.

The brass depth adjustment nut is now larger and measures 1.25"
in diameter.

The lever cap has a subtle change in its shape - it is not as
rounded about the edges as the earlier style is. The lever cam
is a bit longer than the old - 1 3/16" vs. 1 3/32".

A series of logo changes are found on these planes. All 3 of the
logos are the result of the merger between Stanley Rule and Level,
the tool producer, and The Stanley Works, the hardware producer.
A notched rectangle, in which the word "STANLEY" is stamped, sits
over a heart-shaped design, in which the letters "S.W." are
stamped. The "S.W." stands for The Stanley Works, and "STANLEY",
obviously, stands for the rule and level firm. The heart-shape is
a memorial to The Stanley Works long-time president, William Hart.
The first version of the logo has "NEW BRITAIN," "CONN. U.S.A."
in two lines under the heart, and dates from around 1920. The next
version, dating from 1921-1922, just has "MADE IN U.S.A" below the
heart, in one line that is longer than the length of the notched
rectangle. The final logo, dating from 1923-1935, is identical to
the second, but the "MADE IN U.S.A." line is a hair shorter than
the length of the notched rectangle. These new logos are know as
the "sweetheart" logo in the tool collecting biz.

This isn't in the original type study - Some of the lever caps
can be found with the outline of the sweetheart logo cast into the
backside. I've only noted one of these planes, a #5, with this
lever cap. Its iron is stamped with the first sweetheart trade-
mark. Another tool pal of mine, from longuyland, has seen
one before. These two examples are the only ones I know of in
tooldom. So far, that is.

Again, not found in the original type study - it's about this
time that the backs of the cap iron are no longer blued, but are
just finished like the fronts, with nothing.

"STANLEY", in a notched rectangle, makes its debut on the lever
cap. The original type study doesn't mention it, but there are
several treatments of the lever cap, where its finish and the
background color of the notched rectangle follow what seems to
be a 'style du jour'. I can't date accurately when each of these
lever cap treatments occured, but I can list the order in which
I believe they were made:

The lever cap is machined and finished as before, with the
notched rectangle's background japanned. I believe this to
be the earliest since the earliest Bed Rock planes have
lever caps of the same treatment (Bed Rock lever caps
always had some embossing on them, and the earliest ones
have the japanned background). My experience tells me that
this lever cap treatment is rather uncommon.

The entire lever cap is entirely nickel plated, including
the background of the notched rectangle.

The lever cap is nickel plated, but the notched rectangle's
background is painted in Stanley's trademark orange color.

For a short period, with the lever cap nickel plated, the
notched rectangle's background is decidedly reddish in
color. This may due to Stanley's working relationship with
Winchester, whose planes have the same color. Either that,
or someone sabotaged Stanley's orange paint supply.

The later planes have a yellow background in the notched
rectangle. These planes typically have the rounded iron.

Another thing not mentioned in the type study is that on some
examples the frogs have an orange overpaint on them. When this was
done is during the 20's. Why it was done is unknown. It may have
been for a large customer, like New York City's school system, to
signify that these planes belonged to someone else as an attmept
to counter those with bad intent. Or, it simply may have been
that the dude who discovered the vivid color for Cheetos was
ahead of his time, and wanted to start cashing in. You take your
pick on a theory here.

A raised ring is cast into the bed to act as a receiver for the
knob. This is to stem the splitting of the knob, about its base,
which was a very common thing to occur. The high knobs were very
prone to this, prior to the introduction of the raised ring, due
to the greater leverage capable of being placed on them than could
be placed on the low knobs.

"STANLEY", inside the notched rectangle, with "MADE IN U.S.A."
is now the new logo stamped on the cutter. This is identical to
the previous logo, except the heart and "S.W." have been removed.

A kindney-shaped hole in the lever cap replaced the old
symmetrical keyhole-shaped hole. This was touted as making the cutter
less likely to loosen when the depth was adjusted; the lever cap
wouldn't be apt to move (along its length) as much.

The toe now has a raised, broad, flat rib cast into it. A similar
rib is found at the heel.

The frog now has an ogee-shape (s-shape) to the back, on either
side of the lateral adjustment lever.

These are the war production planes, and all bets about what is
and isn't proper on these examples, and those made in the years
immediately following, are off. This is an area where the type
study is very weak, in my opinion. But it's understandable since
there are so many configurations of these planes. My observations
tell me that any combination of the following features is possible
for these planes. And, to make matters worse, some of the examples
have the standard features (rosewood, brass) of the previous type
in conjunction with some of the features of this type. This all is
likely explained by the fact that Stanley was using stock on-hand,
where parts made prior to the war were simply being used.

Handle and knob are hardwood stained red or painted black.

Depth adjustment now is smaller, made either of steel or hard
rubber.

Oddly, the bottom castings are much thicker and heavier than
other models.

The type study doesn't mention this, but my experience tells me
that nickel plated lever caps went belly-up during the war. The
lever cap have a rather coarsely machined surface.

The type study also fails to mention this -- the normal two-piece
construction of a brass cap and a threaded rod, used to secure the
the wooden parts (tote and knob) to the bottom casting, is now a
one piece construction (like a long screw).

Some examples have no frog adjusting screw. It's strange that
on the examples I've seen, the hole is tapped for the screw in
the bottom casting, but the frog isn't. It's like they did half
the work, but all for nothing. On other examples, neither hole
is tapped.

Some examples have the old-style hole (keyhole-shaped) in the
lever cap.

Rosewood is re-introduced, and is often varnished so heavily that
it almost obscures the grain.

"STANLEY" is now incised in a vertical direction on the lateral
adjustment lever.

The original type study doesn't mention this, but on some of
the models of this type "STANLEY" is stamped on both sides of
the lateral adjustment lever. I've seen enough of these to
convince me that's it wasn't accidental, or if it was, it was
a big screw-up.

The knurling on the brass depth adjuster is now parallel on most
examples.

Later examples have the familiar black paint on the hardwood tote
and knob.

Type study doesn't mention this, but the cutters now have rounded
tops instead of the angular top. This change happened in the
mid--1950's, in my opinion.

Furthermore, the original type study doesn't mention the change
in the finish applied on the forked lever. For a short while,
some models had a nickel plated appearance on them as a finish
rather than the usual black japanning. Where in the sequence of
actual manufacturing this subtle change fits is unknown to me,
but I've only noticed it on those planes equipped with rosewood
knobs and totes and rounded irons.